


Useless

by ashenpages



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Crying, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Established Relationship, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-13
Updated: 2017-09-13
Packaged: 2018-12-27 17:45:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,498
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12086127
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ashenpages/pseuds/ashenpages
Summary: Ignis gave Gladio a key, but he didn't expect Gladio to use it for a reason like this.





	Useless

**Author's Note:**

> This is the third part of a bunch of Gladnis fics that are should stand on their own as short stories. If you have trouble following the timeline, let me know and I'll do something about it!

Despite the hyper masculine aura Gladiolus Amictia preferred to emit, there were a few things he was very particular about. It was the smell of his cologne in the air that told Ignis that Gladio was on the premises. Given the strength of it and the sharp scent of water and salt beneath it, it was a fresh application after a spot of training and a shower.

Ignis placed his groceries on the kitchen table and checked to make sure the light was on for his guest. “Gladio,” he said, acknowledging the other’s presence. “I see you’re putting your key to good use. Although, I must admit, I rather expected communications to precede its use.” Ignis aimed a playful smile at the epicenter of the smell, to make sure Gladio knew his remarks were in jest, not a reprimand. His hands stopped working through his groceries and his smile fell away when there was no reply. “Gladio?”

An audible inhale was his answer.

Ignis’s brow furrowed. He reached out and found the man’s shoulder. It was sagging alarmingly from Gladio’s usual strong posture. Ignis immediately discarded his gloves. He sank to his knees between Gladio’s legs and placed his hands on either side of Gladio’s face. “Darling,” he murmured. “Tell me what’s wrong.”

Gladio’s arms wrapped around Ignis’s back. Ignis raised his chin to clear Gladio’s shoulder as the hulking man drew Ignis against his chest. Ignis moved one hand to Gladio’s hair, letting his fingers fall through the strands not restrained by Gladio’s half ponytail. The irregular rise and fall of Gladio’s chest sent the gears of Ignis’s mind spinning.

This was the closest he’d ever seen Gladio to tears, and for the life of him, he couldn’t understand why. He had seen Gladio repress, seen him rage, seen him stalwart and determined to do something about the horrors they had encountered. Never, in all their years together, had he seen the man cry. Now that he was, Ignis felt like a hypocrite. He’d always thought Gladio should be more coherent about his emotions—but now that some of the transparency he’d wished for was here, he hadn’t the foggiest as to how to actually deal with it.

Well. First things first. Little sense in charging in without the lay of the land.

He stroked Gladio’s hair again and laid a kiss to his temple. “Tell me the name of the fiend who has wronged you, and I swear to Eos I will make their head the center piece of our next meal.” Gladio’s breath sputtered out in a few staccato gusts of laughter. Ignis’s lips curved against Gladio’s cheek. “Please, love.”

Gladio nodded. His arms loosened around Ignis and he sat back. Ignis’s hand remained pressed to Gladio’s cheek. Gladio stroked the back of it. He took a deep breath, then said, “Do you think… it would have made any difference if I had been stronger?”

Ignis, for once, found himself at a loss for words.

Gladio shifted in his chair, his body language screaming of discomfort in Ignis’s extended silence. Ignis adjusted his visor and gave a curt shake of his head.

“Why would you even consider such a thing?” Ignis asked.

“Because.” Gladio’s uneven cry-surrogate breathing was back. “All of this, all of it’s my fault.”

“Ha!” Ignis couldn’t help himself, the laugh came unbidden. Gladio’s expression turned dark under Ignis’s fingertips.

“Don’t laugh at me, Iggy,” he said. “If I had been with you during the siege of Altissia, you wouldn’t be blind now. If I had been on top of that train when Noct had been fighting, Prompto never would have never gone through that fucking prison camp. If I’d been strong enough to deal with all the demons in the empire, we might never have lost—”

“Stop,” Ignis commanded. “That’s quite enough.”

“But—”

“You didn’t blind me. You didn’t hurt Prompto. You didn’t drive Noct away. All of those things are more important than who’s to blame for what happened.” Ignis’s hand traced the long scar under Gladio’s eye. He had only heard the stories about how Gladio had earned that scar—how he’d taken a blow meant for Noct. Gladio had always been every inch the king’s shield. He was blameless. “You’ve always stood with all of us.” Ignis gave Gladio his best over-confident smirk. “There’s a reason I never watch my own back when you’re around.”

Ignis expected his compliment to encourage the other man. He expected to hear a two syllable laugh, maybe a sniff, and a come-hell-or-high-water brand cocky response. The stifled keen of a man trying to hold back a sob and a dampness trickling over his thumb was not what he had expected.

Gladio was full of surprises tonight.

Ignis’s hand darted daintily over Gladio’s expression. The man had a hand pressed to his eyes, as if he could hold back the tears by sheer force alone. His mouth switched between a bitten lip and open ragged gasps for air.

Ignis found himself both panicking and overwhelmed by an inappropriate urge to laugh at Gladio’s inefficient and constipated approach to weeping. For lack of a better response, he fetched his handkerchief from his jacket’s inner breast pocket. He wiped Gladio’s cheeks and then held the cloth to Gladio’s nose.

“Blow,” he said.

Gladio took the hankie from Ignis. The resulting sound told Ignis that he was still at least capable of following directions, even if doing so made him sound like a congested elephant.

“What if I’m not strong enough to protect anything?” Gladio said. “What if all the time I spent training, working on these stupid muscles—”

“Words are powerful things, Gladio,” Ignis said softly. “Choose your next ones carefully.”

Gladio’s breath shuddered as another sob went through him. “Iggy, I need to get them out. They’ve been eating me since…” Gladio swallowed audibly. It was alright, he didn’t need to finish his sentence. Ignis knew what he mean. Since Noct had disappeared. Since the dark had fallen. Since the demons had gotten worse. It hadn’t happened all at once, but it was surreal how moments blended together when they were dominated by tragedy and showed no notion of improving.

Ignis rubbed Gladio’s thigh and guided the other man’s head down to lay a kiss on his forehead. “Then let them out. I’m here to fight them for you.”

“Iggy,” Gladio said, clutching Ignis’s hand. “What if I did it all wrong? What if all this strength I trained for…” Gladio fell silent. He clutched Ignis’s hand more tightly.

Ignis waited. Words had never been Gladio’s strong suit. Emotions even less so. If these words had been eating him, it was important that he give Gladio the space to finally articulate them. But as the minutes stretched on, and Gladio failed to produce more than half-started syllables, Ignis heard the word Gladio was avoiding in his silence.

“Gladio, you are many things,” Ignis said. “Impatient, indelicate, and bullheaded being some of them. But never—and listen to me when I say this—never in all of your days could you be useless.”

The tension in Gladio’s muscles seemed to lessen. “I just don’t know what to do now. It doesn’t feel like anything I do changes the way things are.”

Ignis hummed a commiseration. “Yes, it does rather feel like even a month’s efforts equates to a drop in the barrel at the moment.”

Gladio sighed. “Iggy, it’s different for you. You’re relearning things. Of course you feel that way. But I’m the same. It doesn’t make sense for me to be so…”

“I believe handicapped is the word you’re looking for.”

Gladio groaned. “I didn’t want to sound like a dick.”

“My love, I fear you are overlooking a rather large factor in this equation of legitimatized feelings.”

“And that would be?”

“The world.”

Gladio was silent a moment. He always tipped his head to the left when puzzled. Ignis raised his hand, and sure enough, found Gladio’s chin at an angle. Ignis smiled fondly and dropped his hand.

“It doesn’t matter if you haven’t changed. Our environment has. I may be learning to see in new ways, but you are learning to fight on new ground. Don’t dismiss your worth.” Ignis ran his hands over Gladio’s sides. “You have always been and always will be tremendously capable.”

Gladio’s breath hitched. From the trajectory, he was moving in towards Ignis. Ignis barely had time to part his lips before Gladio kissed him—raw, open mouthed, the salt of his tears mingling with the taste of his mouth. Ignis held him and kissed him back. He kissed him again and again. He kissed him until the shaking stopped and the taste of salt was forgotten for the taste of Gladio’s tongue. He kissed him until Gladio nuzzled his nose and chuckled, arms strong around Ignis’s back, shoulders back in their proper place.

“Take me to bed?” Gladio asked.

“Try and stop me,” Ignis responded.

**Author's Note:**

> If you enjoyed this and want me to write something else you've been craving, consider commissioning me to write it for you! Send me an [ask on my tumblr if you want to keep it private](ashenpages.tumbr.com), or email me at fanficsbyash@gmail.com.
> 
> Seriously, I love writing this stuff for you all, so even if it's a tiny commission, hit me up. Writing fic that's specially designed to make you smile is my favorite thing to do, even if it's only a few hundred words long.


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